"Expressing thoughts and dreams......"

While visiting the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT, I came across this quote:
"Painting is an endless effort of putting paint on a canvas with a miserable little brush....and endeavoring to make it express thoughts and dreams that will perhaps reach out and say something to someone...something that will make wandering souls stop and look.....perhaps awaken something in them that makes them think of beautiful things."  Willard Leroy Metcalf

I like what Metcalf has to say about painting and his painting entitled Mountain Laurel, pictured here and dated 1905, was beautiful and did make me think of "beautiful things".  I humbly hope that my paintings will somehow provide that simple pleasure. 

Nimrod Art Experience/Dispelling the Negative

In June I attended a week-long painting workshop at Nimrod Art Center in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.  It was an absolutely beautiful and inspiring location and a wonderful painting retreat.  I had never done plein air painting and was apprehensive about the process and technique and of course, the idea of painting outside with the bugs and the heat.  I like the comforts of my studio and my very controlled and detailed way of painting is best done from photographs.  But, I also believe that every artist needs the experience of painting outside from life.
This week I received Alyson Stanfield's email entitled "Stop Defining Yourself in the Negative".   She writes that you define yourself by what you say.  If you say, "I am not.......", "I am not good at.......", I can't........", etc., you are defining yourself in the negative.  You then become the person you are defining.  Of course, the power of positive thinking is not a new idea, but one to reconsider as an artist. 
I think that because I had many anxious thoughts and doubts about plein air painting, I was not as successful as I would like to have been. 
So, next time you have those negative feelings, fears, doubts......remember that you are defined by your thoughts and comments.  What you say and feel become ingrained in your very being. 

Hopper

In April, I visited the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT.  Really not expecting much in a small town museum, I was pleasantly surprised by their wonderful collection of American art.  Originally, I was interested in an Edward Hopper painting that I knew they had because of an online visit to the museum.  Unfortunately, the Hopper was on loan to another museum, but not to worry, the museum was still a treat.  If you are anywhere close to New Britain, CT, I recommend this "not so little" museum of American art.  What a collection they have!
I did purchase a book about Hopper entitled, Edward Hopper, Light and Dark.  The book is filled with beautiful colorplates and is well-written by Gerry Souter, an artist and professional author with over twenty books to his credit.  Not knowing much about Hopper's background, the book is both interesting and informative.  Hopper was a tall man at six feet and five inches.  Josephine, his wife of 43 years and model for almost all of his paintings of women, was only five feet, one inch tall.  She too was an artist, but like so many others in her position, was overshadowed by her famous husband. 
Hopper's mother was the one who encouraged his early interest in the arts and provided him with copious amounts of supplies.  His career began as a commercial illustrator, but he soon turned to fine art and was accepted at the New York School of Art, studying with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.  Henri had studied with William Adolphe Bouguereau in Paris.  This connection brought Henri from a tight trompe l'oeil style to loose, broad brushstrokes.  This reflected in Hopper's work as well and these early paintings began to show hints of his minimalist approach and his use of highly contrasting areas of light and deep shadow to block up masses and form. 

I have always admired Hopper's simplicity, his loose brushwork, and his ability to create depth and form with high contrast of light and dark.
In the last blog, I wrote about the white rose painting and the importance of light and shadow and the use of high contrast.  The painting that I have included this time is another  in a series of white roses.  It is an oil painting, 16" x 20", painted from a personal photograph, now on view at The Artist Gallery in Virginia Beach.

Evening Rose

When painting white flowers, the power lies in the stark contrasts between the pure white areas of the flower and the almost dark cast shadows.  The reflective gold in the center creates a glowing appearance and brings the flower to life.  White on any object reflects the colors around it.  The Impressionists recognized this when they moved from dimly lit studios to the bright sunlight of outdoors.  What beauty and vibrancy they found in the shimmering sparkles of light on water or the dappling colors reflected on a frilly white dress.  One of my favorite paintings in the Chrysler Museum, the Daughters of Durand-Ruel, is an example.  It was painted by Renoir entirely out of doors with lively brushstrokes and a palette of dynamic and ever changing colors.

Succulents, My Favortie Subject

Succulents have thick fleshy leaves that retain water because they mostly grow in hot dry climates.  They also often grow in sandy or beachy areas which is where I live. 
Succulents come in hundreds of varieties and are grown worldwide.  I think of them as life sustaining because of their ability to offer thirst quenching liquid to a hot traveler. 

This painting was done from a photograph taken in California at Quail Park Botanical Gardens in Encinitas.  I wanted to paint this particular image because of the beautiful colors and shapes and had at first considered cropping the image to get just a few of the leaves.  I finally decided to include almost all of the plant in the painting and I think it worked.  I enjoy painting subjects with many complicated and overlapping shapes and contrasting colors and this painting definitely "fit the bill". 

Undulating Terrain

I have always enjoyed sewing and it was fun for me to combine that with my passion for painting.  These canvases were completed for the "Be There and Be Square" Exhibit at The Artists Gallery, a cooperative in Virginia Beach that I have belonged to since 1996.

The canvases were cut apart, stitched back together with some areas backed by cotton muslin.  A small slit was made in the areas that are backed and those areas are stuffed with polyster filling and the slits stitiched back together, sort of trapunto quilting style.

 
The canvas is then stretched onto a stretcher frame and each area painted with oils using shading and highlights to make each area appear three-dimensional.  The trick is that some areas are actually three-dimensional and some areas are flat, but are painted to look three-dimensional.  Each painting was placed in a floater type frame and they are meant to be hung as a group. 

Frida Kahlo

I have always admired and been intrigued by the art and life of Frida Kahlo and loved teaching my students about her.  Unfortunately, all some people remember about her is the uni-brow or the fact that she was the wife of Diego Rivera. 
I admire Frida for her stamina and courage to pursue her passion.  She endured much pain and sadness, which would have been overwhelming for most, in her life.  She was studying at the National Preparatory in Mexico City when that horrific streetcar accident occurred, but she always said that was not the worst accident in her life....Diego Rivera was much worse. 
Painting was Frida's salvation and a visual diary of her life.  We, the viewer, can see and feel her pain, caused by everything from childhood polio to the streetcar accident to a problematic marriage to the inability to have a child and to finally, the consent to have her leg amputated.  Gradually, it just wore her down.
The fairly recent interest in Kahlo has been the impetus for large exhibits of her work, including one in Philadelphia that I had the privilege to attend. 
For these reasons, I chose to copy one of Frida's portraits for our "Fabulous Forgeries" Exhibit at The Artists Gallery.  The one I recreated is entitled "Self -Portrait with Thorny Necklace and Dead Hummingbird", painted by Frida in 1940 after her marriage to Diego had ended.  Life without Diego is expressed in her downtrodden expression....heavy eyelids, the hostile cat and the monkey that tugs at her thorny necklace.  The dead hummingbird is a symbol of woe and echoes the arc of her eyebrows and her exaggerated mustache. 
For further information, there are many books about the life of Frida Kahlo.  I recommend the book, Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver which has a great deal of information about Frida and Diego's life in Mexico.